Pneumatic tone-producer.



Rg HOPE-JONES. DECD.

c. HOPE-JONES, TEMPORARY ADMeNlsTRATRIx.

PNEUMATIC TONE' PRDDUCER.

APPLlcAlloN FILED Nuv.14. 19H.

1,262,670. PatentedApr. 16, 1918.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ROBERT HOPE-JONES, DECEASED, LATE OF NOR-TH TONAWANDA, NEW YORK, BY CECIL HOPE-J ONES, TEMPORARY ADMINISTRATRIX, OF NORTH TONAWANDA, NEW YORK.

PNEUMATIC TONE-PRODUCER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 1e, 191s.

Application filed November 14, 1914. Serial No. 872,181.

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that Ronnn'r HOPE-JONES, deceased, late of North Tonawanda, in the county of Niagara and State of New York, invented certain'new and useful Improvements in Pneumatic Tone-Producers; and the following is hereby declared to bea full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the. accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specificaton, and to the reference-numerals marked thereon.

The present invention relates to musical instruments, and it has for its special object to provide a tone producing device whereby an elastic fluid mediuml may be caused to exert a rapid intermittent pressure on a sounding board and transmit vibrations thereto. To these and other ends the invention consists in certain improvements and combinations of parts, all as will be hereinafter more fully described, the novel features being pointed out in the claims at the end of the speciiication.

In the drawings: l

Figure 1 is a side elevation partly in section of a sounding member with a tone producer constructed in accordance with and 'illustrating one embodiment of the invention applied thereto;

Fig. 2 is a sectional view with the parts shown in Fig. 1, in a different position;

Fig. 3 is a vertical sectional view on the line 3--3 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a similar view on lthe line 4 4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a horizontal sectional view on the line 5 5 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 2, showing amodiied form, and

Fig. 7 is a plan view showing a number ott tone producers applied to a single sounding board.

' Similar reference numerals throughout the several views indicate the same parts.

In Fig. 1 of the drawings the invention is shown applied to one of the bars or sounding members 1 of a Xylophone, the bar being supported at its nodal points 2, as usual. The tone-producer in this embodiment consists of a cylinder 3a, provided with the integral end 4, and a removable end or head 5a, and is secured by a fastening device such as a bolt 6 at the central point of the bar 1. A piston 7 is freely movable in the cylinder and prevented from rotation by the key 8 operating in alongitudinal slot S in the piston.

The bar l is caused to vibrate by admitting iuid alternately into opposite ends ot the cylinder- For this purpose, passages 9 leading to opposite ends ot the piston cooperate alternately with passages 10 in the cylinder wall opening to the atmosphere, and also with a passage 11 connected by a flexible tube 12 to a source of reduced air pressure or partial vacuum. lVith the parts in the position shown in Fig. 1 the upper passage 9 is in communication with the passage 11, while the lower passage 9 admits air from the atmosphere. The piston is therefore moved toward the upper end of the cylinder to the position shown in Fig. 2, in which pressure is admitted to the upper end oic the piston. During this movement, after the lower passage 10 is shut ott and before the atmospheric pressure acting on the upper end oi the piston succeeds in arresting its motion, the momentum of the piston will carry it to the position shown in Fig. 2. During this time the` compressed air contained in the upper end of the cylinder transmits the momentum of the piston to the cylinder, and consequently to the bar 1. The action oi the piston in moving in the other direction is the same as that just described. The movement oi the piston is arrested by the air cushions at the ends of the cylinders. These cushions prevent any perceptible noise from the piston and serve as an elastic medium for imparting the vibrations to the sounding member 1. Reversals of the motion of the piston take place with very great rapidity, according te the size oit the passages, and the reciprocations set up uniform vibrations of the desired pitch in the member 1.

In Fig. (3 there is only one inlet port 1()a which is connected to a pressure supply higher than that of the atmosphere, and the exhaust ports 11n are arranged on either side thereof, and register with overlapping passages 9 leading to the ends of the piston. The action is the same as that of the 'first-described construction.

Fig. 7 shows a number of tone producers arranged adjacent each other on a single sounding board or member and secured thereto by means similar to those shown in Figs. 1 6. In this case the sounding board vibrates in parts, in the same manner as an ordinary piano sounding board.

The invention claimed is:

l. The combination with a sounding member, and a chamber attached to a free portion of said member, of a member arranged to reciprocate in the chamber and act upon the iuid pressure in the ends of the chamber to impart vibrating movement to the sounding member.

2. The combination with a sounding member, of two relatively reciprocating members, one of which is connected to said sounding member, one of said reciprocating members having a Huid pressure supply passage therein and the other having cooperating passages adapted to admit iuid alternately to opposite ends of the first-mentioned reciproeating member to cause a relative motion of the two reciprocating members in either direction, one of said cooperating passages being temporarily disconnected from and the other temporarily connected to the supply passage for admitting` fluid t0 cushion the member having said cooperating passages.

r1`he combination with a sounding member, and a cylinder connected therewith, of a piston movable in the cylinder, one of the two last-named members having a passage through which luid is admitted to one end of the cylinder, said passage being controlled by the relative motion of the two last-named members.

4. The combination with a sounding member, and a cylinder connected therewith, of a piston movable in the cylinder, one of the two last-named members having a Huid pressure supply passage and the other having passages communicating alternately with the supply passage, for the purpose of admitting fluid to Opposite ends of the cylinder.

5. The combination with a sounding member, and a cylinder connected therewith, of a piston movable in the cylinder, said cylinder having a Huid pressure supply passage therein, and said piston having passages therein communicating alternately with the passage in the cylinder for the purpose of admitting fluid to opposite ends of the cylinder.

6. The combination with a sounding member, and a cylinder connected therewith having fluid pressure supply and exhaust passages, of a piston movable in the cylinder, having passages therein opening at the ends thereof, one of said passages being in communication with the fluid supply when the other is in communication with the exhaust.

7 The combination with a Sounding member and a cylinder attached thereto having inlet and outlet ports, of a reciprocating piston in the cylinder provided with passages cooperating with said ports and opening into the ends of the cylinder, said passages being arranged to automatically control t-he continued movement of the piston and cushion it at the limit of travel.

CECIL HOPE'J ONES,

Temporary administratie@ of the estate of Robe/ft Hope-Jones, deceased. lVitnesses: r

JOHN LARKIN, RICHARD J. LYNCH.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

